Moments
by Queen of Tortall
Summary: Shameless Sandry/Briar fluff! Each chapter is a separate one-shot. Edited.
1. Shakkan

**Moments**

* * *

_A collection of Briar/Sandry moments from _Will of the Empress_. Pretty much the "what didn't happen between them and what should have happened" parts._

_Sorry if it's a little OOC.  
_

* * *

Sandry watched Briar as he caressed the empress's disfigured _shakkan_, entranced in his movements. She shook herself out of it just in time to hear him say, "Nobody ever asks the tree, do they?"

Shaking her head, she replied (in a _sisterly _way, she told herself), "If only you found a human being you loved enough to talk that way to."

He looked at her with those expressive green eyes. They turned considerably darker as he paused, and said hesitantly, "There... is. But she'll never love me that way."

Sandry was shocked. Briar, her Briar, loved someone else. _Oh, I knew he had his flings_, she thought sadly. _But I thought they were _silly_! _With that thought, she turned and walked slowly to the door, but not before Briar caught a tear shimmering at the corner of her cornflower blue eyes.

"G'night Briar," she said abruptly.

"Sandy, wait!" he called urgently. _Lakik's teeth, now what have I done? _he thought angrily. _She was _supposed _to get the hint!_

When Sandry made no sign of stopping, he began running, and in three great steps, caught up to her.

"Just leave me alone, Briar," she sniffed, hastily wiping away tears. "I..." But she never got to finish her sentence. Because in the spur of the moment, Briar caught her full on the lips.

When they finally broke away, Sandry was shocked. "But... I thought you liked someone..."

"Sandry, don't you get it? Sometimes you can be so slow, even though you stick you neb in everything!" Briar said, though not unkindly. "That someone is you."

And he kissed her again.

* * *

_Too much fluff? Maybe. I'm rereading this as I'm editing, and it's a little too saccharine even for me. Oh well, I'm not going to change it. :)_


	2. That Gardener Boy

**That Gardener Boy**

As Briar walked along the hallway, musing over his thoughts (and inevitably, Sandry), he heard soft cadences of her voice. He paused for a moment, looking wistfully back at her door, but the soft look in his eyes dissipated as he heard Berenene's puppy dog, Jak, answer her. He smirked as Sandry turned him away, yet again. _That's my girl_, he thought, walking away. But something Jak said made him stop abruptly. "And I suppose that gardener boy does?"

Sandry protested at thought of her and Briar together. Briar, as well as Jak, heard the genuine disgust in her voice. Running a hand through his mess of black hair, Briar sighed. She was never going to love him, he had to accept that. Meanwhile, he could make do with Caidy, who had, in terms, "stolen his arm, or his breath," but Sandry had stolen his heart.

In her mind's eye, Sandry contemplated Jak's words. If she ever wanted a husband… Shan's handsome face filled her vision, with his twinkling eyes and soft lips. As Sandry pushed that thought away, another face appeared. It was one she knew well: those unforgettable verdant eyes, crop of black hair, and golden skin...

She was shocked. _Since when had I felt that way about Briar? I just told Jak that I didn't love him, at least not _that _way! _But try as she might, she couldn't push the image of his face away. Sandry gave up and began to meditate, unbeknownst to Briar, who was in his room doing the same thing to soothe his feelings.

Somehow, in the uncertainty of their magic and their feelings, they reforged their old connection. As they both realized this, they simultaneously attempted to block their thoughts from each other.

It didn't work.

Briar started as images of his face flooded into his mind. Sandry gasped as she listened Briar's thoughts about her.

_Briar, _she called tentatively.

_What? _he answered, hoping that his thoughts hadn't reached her.

_Did you really think about me like that?_

_No…. _Briar mumbled. Even he could hear the lie in his voice. He wondered where his years of effortless lying went.

_Are you sure?_

_Sorry._

_Hold on, I'm coming._

Within a few moments, Sandry stood at Briar's door. Looking at him with new eyes for the first time, she realized what her subconscious had discovered long, long ago- she loved him.

He saw the confirmation in her eyes and smiled. _Everything's gonna be alright, Duchess_, he told her.

_I know_, she replied, and brushed her lips against his.


End file.
